Page 16 of Slumming It

Payback wasalwaysfun if you were willing to get creative and didn’t mind breaking a few eggs. Come to think of it, thelastperson to cross me was now sitting on a sea of broken shells that would take months to clean up. Maybe years.

On the phone, the clerk had moved on to threats, saying something about coming down here with a handyman if I didn’t let Emily go – as if I were holding her hostage against her will.

I wasn’t.

Hell, I wasn’t even blocking the door – well, not anymore.

The caller was still babbling when Emily the Housekeeper strode forward and yanked the phone from my grip. In a rush, she told the caller, "Hey, Viv. I reallyamfine. We're just talking, that's all."

I couldn't hear the reply, but whatever it was, Emily didn't like it. With a little wince, she said, "I know." She paused. "Uh, yeah. I'll be down there in a bit." With that, she returned the phone's receiver to the cradle and turned to look at me.

I was still considering my payback, discarding some ideas and liking others. Some were downright amusing – even ifshewouldn’t see it that way.

I didn't give two shits what people thought of me. But this chick? A small-towner with big eyes and a friendly smile?Oh, she'd care alright.

Maybe I'd toy with her first, see what she offered as payback and take it from there. Sometimes, the negotiations were half the fun.

With a little frown, she asked, "Why are you smiling?"

Was I?I hadn't realized. And this, too, pissed me off. Still, I kept the smile in place long enough to say, "Because you owe me." I dropped the smile. "And I always collect."

Her frown deepened. "Collect what?"

I repeated what I'd said to the caller. "You tellme."

She blinked. "Sorry, what?"

"What can you offer?"

Again, her gaze drifted to the bed. "Well, it's not a quickie if that's what you're thinking."

What the hell?If I wanted easy ass, there were simpler ways to get it. But more to the point, I was getting pretty fucking tired of this chick assuming that the presence of a nearby bed – and a sagging one at that – meant that I wanted to get busy with the help, assuming she really was the housekeeper.

Plus I didn'tdoquickies. I gave her dusty shirt a long, rude look. "Don't worry. I prefer my partners clean."Yeah, it was an insult, but she'd insulted me first, and I always gave as good as I got.

She was still frowning. "What are you implying? That I'm dirty?"

Dirty – on her full lips the word sounded vaguely obscene, and my mind took a sudden detour south. As I shifted my stance, I gave her shirt another pointed look. "That's a fact, not an opinion."

She glanced down before saying, "Just so you know, I don't normally look like this."

I shrugged. "If you say so."

Her chin lifted. "Idosay so."

"Good for you," I said. "But easy ass isn't gonna cut it."

"Easy ass?" she sputtered. "That's not what I offered."

"But you're gonna offersomething." I crossed my arms. "And you'd better make it good."

Chapter 7

Emily

I stared up at the guy.Make it good?

He had to be joking. He was a billionaire.Ihad nearly nothing, except my body, which he had already rejected – not that I'd offered, even if the jerk seemed to think otherwise.